At the time of this writing, Android devices are widely used, and many studies considering methods of forensic acquisition of data from Android devices have been conducted. Similarly, a diverse collection of smartphone forensic tools has also been introduced. However, studies conducted thus far do not normally guarantee data integrity required for digital forensic investigations. Therefore, this work uses a previously proposed method of Android device acquisition utilizing ‘Recovery Mode’. This work evaluates Android Recovery Mode variables that potentially compromise data integrity at the time of data acquisition. Based on the conducted analysis, an Android data acquisition tool that ensures the integrity of acquired data is developed, which is demonstrated in a case study to test tool's ability to preserve data integrity.

Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and sometimes referred to as ‘Mobile IoT’ or ‘Flying IoT’, are widely adopted worldwide, with their market share continuously increasing. While drones are generally harnessed for a wide range of positive applications, recent instances of drones being employed as lethal weapons in conflicts between countries like Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, and Hamas have demonstrated the potential consequences of their misuse. Such misuse poses a significant threat to cybersecurity and human lives, thereby highlighting the need for research to swiftly and accurately analyze drone-related crimes, identify the responsible pilot, and establish when and what illegal actions were carried out. In contrast to existing research, involving limited data collection and analysis of the drone, our study focused on collecting and rigorously analyzing data without restrictions from the remote controller used to operate the drone. This comprehensive approach allowed us to unveil essential details, including the pilot’s account information, the specific drone used, pairing timestamps, the pilot’s operational location, the drone’s flight path, and the content captured during flights. We developed methodologies and proposed artifacts to reveal these specifics, which were supported by real-world data. Significantly, this study is the pioneering digital forensic investigation of remote controller devices. We meticulously collected and analyzed all internal data, and we even employed reverse engineering to decrypt critical information files. These achievements hold substantial significance. The outcomes of this research are expected to serve as a digital forensic methodology for drone systems, thereby making valuable contributions to numerous investigations.

As IoT devices are always connected to mobile devices or other computing devices via the Internet, clever malwares targeting IoT devices or other computing devices connected to IoT devices are emerging. Therefore, effective IoT security research is needed to respond to hacking attacks by these kinds of malware. This paper studied the method of identifying and analyzing malware combined with social engineering from the perspective of digital forensics. The paper classified and analyzed intelligent malware characteristics and proposed a method of quickly identifying and analyzing the malware that secretly intruded into the devices installed with Android, Linux OS, using digital forensics techniques. Moreover, this paper proved its effectiveness by applying this investigation method to two actual malware cases. The research outcomes will be useful in responding to increasingly clever malware attacking IoT devices.

Min-Hyuck Ko*, Pyo-Gil-Hong, and Dohyun Kim. Journal of information and communication convergence engineering 2022;20:280-7. https://doi.org/10.56977/jicce.2022.20.4.280